Female Adolescent Sexuality Stress and Support Scale (Bedard-Thomas et al., 2019)

• Populations: Individuals identifying as women
• Age ranges: 12-21
• Languages: English
• Countries: United States

Items

Subscales:

• Fear of disclosure and judgement
• sexuality-related bullying
• family support
• friend support
• dating comfort
• gender identity confidence

Fear of Disclosure & Judgment 

• If adults at school knew about my sexual attraction, identity, or behavior I would get into trouble
• I am scared of people knowing my sexuality at school
• I am comfortable choosing a label/s to identify my sexual feelings, attractions, and behaviors (like straight, lesbian, bisexual, unsure, queer)*
• People at school judge me because of my sexuality
• Rumors and gossip at school prevent me from sharing my sexuality and dating experiences
• I am frightened to tell my family about my sexuality
• When it comes to dating, relationships, and sexuality, I feel judged by my family
• My family would be very upset if they knew about my sexuality

Sexuality-Related Bullying 

• Physical bullying because of sexuality (or perceived sexuality) is common at my school (e.g., hitting, kicking, spitting, pushing)
• Verbal bullying because of sexuality (or perceived sexuality) is common at my school (e.g., name calling, taunting, spreading rumors, excluding)
• I am bullied (verbally or physically) at school because of my sexuality or perceived sexuality
• I witness other kids at school being bullied (verbally or physically) because of their sexuality or perceived sexuality

Family Support 

• There is someone in my family that I can talk openly with about my experiences with dating, relationships, and sexuality
• My family knows about my dating, relationships, and sexuality
• I feel comfortable being open with my family about my dating, relationships, and sexuality
• It is challenging to have open conversations with my family about dating, relationships, and sexuality*
• My family is proud of me, regardless of my sexuality

Friend Support

• There are people in my life (friends, family, teachers) that I can talk to when I havequestions about dating, relationships, and sexuality
• I am comfortable talking about my sexuality with my friends
• My friends have supported me through my experiences with dating, relationships,and sexuality

Dating Comfort 

• Dating has made me confident that I know what I want and how I should be treated
• I don’t know what to think about dating or sexuality because of mixed messages from the different parts of my life (e.g., home, church, school, TV)*
• I can date whomever I want without being judged by others in my own racial/ethnic group

Gender Identity Confidence 

• I like being a girl
• It is easier to be a girl than it is to be a boy
• There is power that comes with being a girl

Responses:

Participants responded using a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (not at all true for me) to 5 (totally true for me)

Scoring

“Note: * = Reverse scored items; Participants responded using a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (not at all true for me) to 5 (totally true for me); Communalities ranged from .36 to .83 after rotation, accounting for 64% of the variance; Retention of 6 factors was supported by a Monte Carlo parallel analysis. Average mean inter-item correlations are reported as a measure of internal consistency because each subscale is comprised of less than 10 items (Pallant, 2013). Average inter-item correlations typically range between .15 and .50 (Clark & Watson, 1995)” (Bedard-Thomas et al., 2019)

Citations

Katherine K. Bedard-Thomas, John L. McKenna, David W. Pantalone, Gary Fireman & Amy K. Marks (2019) A mixed-methods measurement study of female adolescent sexuality stress and support, Psychology & Sexuality, 10:3, 212-233, DOI: 10.1080/19419899.2019.1596972